Meeting the UK's climate change commitments: options for carbon mitigationon agricultural land

Under the Kyoto Protocol, the European Union is committed to an 8% reductio n in CO2 emissions, compared to baseline (1990) levels, during the first co mmitment period (2008-2012). However, within the overall EU agreement, the UK is committed to a 12.5% reduction. In this paper, we estimate the carbon mitigation potential of various agricultural land-management strategies (K yoto Article 3.4) and examine the consequences of UK and European policy op tions on the potential for carbon mitigation. We show that integrated agricultural land management strategies have consid erable potential for carbon mitigation. Our figures suggest the following p otentials (Tg yr(-1)) for each scenario: animal manure, 3.7; sewage sludge, 0.3; cereal straw incorporation, 1.9; no-till farming, 3.5; agricultural e xtensification, 3.3; natural woodland regeneration, 3.2 and bioenergy crop production, 4.1. A realistic land-use scenario combining a number of these individual management options has a mitigation potential of 10.4 Tg C yr(-1 ) (equivalent to about 6.6% of 1990 UK CO2-carbon emissions). An important resource for carbon mitigation in agriculture is the surplus arable land, b ut in order to fully exploit it, policies governing the use of surplus arab le land would need to be changed. Of all options examined, bioenergy crops show the greatest potential. Bioenergy crop production also shows an indefi nite mitigation potential compared to other options where the potential is infinite. The UK will not attempt to meet its climate change commitments solely throu gh changes in agricultural land-use, but since all sources of carbon mitiga tion will be important in meeting these commitments, agricultural options s hould be taken very seriously.